<p>What are my chances at Wash U early. I know my test score is decent and my GPA is low but I know my extracurriculars are good. My essay is VERY good. I interviewed (went way over time and lots of fun, my interviewee has been emailing me about my blog), visited, did all of that stuff showing interest. It's my number one and would love to get in. Other options are Bowdoin, Macalester, and Kenyon. Should I look at an Ivy schools though?</p>
<p>ACT: 32
English: 34
Math: 32</p>
<p>GPA W: 4.1
UW: 3.9</p>
<p>4 AP's before senior year
Taking 5 senior year</p>
<p>No ranking at my school. Top 10%in a class of 755 (have no idea where exactly in there) </p>
<p>Activites:
Creative Writer/Blogger
10+ time published poet in Teen Ink Weekly & Creative Communications and other literary magazines. Published by America Library of Poetry — finalist in competition(they still haven't come out with the final final results). Finalist for PTSA Reflections.</p>
<p>******Attended Kenyon College's Young Writers Workshop.
Classes taught by esteemed creative writing professors. Lived on Kenyon College's campus for 2 weeks. Honed my craft as a write, performed readings. (Very Hard to get into. Prestigious writing program for high school kids)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Theatre
Member of Laguna Beach Playhouse community theatre. Part of mentor/buddy program within youth theatre acting as a leader for younger and new students. I write plays, act, direct, work backstage all at a professional level. Huge commitment of professional level theatre</p></li>
<li><p>Music: Instrumental
Trumpet section leader in Wind Ensemble
3x Chapman University Honor Band. Performed with Grammy Winning floutist Nestor Torres. Performed with Grammy Nominee guitarist Mark Turnbull.</p></li>
<li><p>Foreign Language
3 Hours per week
36 Weeks
Member of ESL tutoring & became president my second year reshaping the program to create more personal relationships with tutors and students. Worked with kids of lots of different backgrounds, cultures, languages, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Other club/Activity
Junior Lifeguard program assistant/Lifeguard
Assistant to counselors. Junior year spent 2 weeks shadowing lifeguards and 1 week in front office with program director. Trained as a beach lifeguard</p></li>
<li><p>Foreign Language
French club Treasurer & Culture/Media officer
In charge of club’s finances. As club culture/media officer I choose French themes, music, activities, and food for meetings. Spoken french only.</p></li>
<li><p>Academic
JHC, NHS & CSF member
Involved in tutoring at school and at the public library. Chosen for JHC; picked by teachers — among 20 boys and 20 girls from my class of 755 kids.</p></li>
<li><p>Athletics: Club
Ultimate Frisbee club founder and president
Founder and president of club. Casual pick up games.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t look at Ivies just because of their caliber. The other schools you listed sound like very good fits for you. A school may be a good fit for you and just happen to also be an Ivy League school and if that is the case then definitely go ahead and apply. But don’t seek out Ivy League schools just for the heck of it.</p>
<p>Maybe you should visit them – they have a different feel from the other colleges you listed but may turn out to be a better fit. Or they may turn out to feel really wrong, in which case you can cross them off your list. I am a huge believer in visiting and determining fit so that is my best suggestion!</p>
<p>There isn’t a ton of time between when ED decisions come out and RD applications are due, so you should probably have a line-up of schools ready and at least start work on their applications in the meantime just in case you don’t get into Wash U.</p>
<p>I really don’t know anything about Wash U, but you are a strong applicant in general so there is no harm in applying ED if it’s your top choice!</p>
<p>I am also looking at WashU, so hopefully I can help a bit with chances. As I’m sure you know, they have been getting increasingly more selective in the past few years. Your ACT is quite good and in their (lower) middle range. If your essay truly is amazing, I think you stand a fair to good chance with ED.</p>
<p>Wash U is kind of like a wannabe Ivy with their admissions stats. Your demonstrated interest counts more there because they’re not used to it- they usually take a ton of Ivy rejects. Your test scores are in the ball park, and so is your GPA (especially when you consider that you go to a massive school). You really have to play up the writing because it’s by far your strongest hook. With the write direction on the app, Wash U could be your place. </p>
<p>You might want to try, out of all the Ivy schools, Dartmouth and Yale. They’re very creative there, very friendly, and have a history of liking aspiring writers. Columbia and Brown are historically more STEM oriented. </p>
<p>thanks so much. That was great advice. my entire common app essay is about how I started writing and how my writing has evolved and progressed. And thanks for the ivy suggestions</p>
<p>You look pretty solid! You will probably get in. I got in last year with similar stats and great EC’s like you ( But I applied RD). If you want someone to look over your common app essay, let me know! I can also send me mine if you want </p>
<p>Just thought I would let you know my son’s experience. He applied to Washington U this past cycle and was waitlisted. He was accepted at Dartmouth and Brown, however. Is is very competitive as you already know, and also seems random. Also, agree with Ranza 123 about looking at each college individually as they are all very different. You mentioned interest in Columbia, Dartmouth and Brown. Columbia and Brown are polar opposites, with the very strict Columbia Core vs. open curriculum at Brown. </p>
<p>No he did not apply ED, but I remembered something else. I seem to remember there was a lot of talk on CC at the time the RD results were coming in on the Wash U site regarding the acceptances and waitlistings. Applicants with higher stats seemed to be waitlisted while those with lower stats were getting acceptances, which was very different from the previous year. There was a lot of speculation that Wash U was trying to “protect their yield” by doing this. In other words, the feeling was that the admissions at WashU was putting the higher stats kids on the waitlist because they felt they were using WashU as a backup. To increase their yield, therefore, WashU was accepting more of the lower stats kids. For this reason, I think you may have a better chance of acceptance as an ED applicant if this is really the case. If you know you want to go to WashU I think you should by all means apply ED. My son did not feel that way about any particular college at the time. Look back at the RD results last year and see how they look, but I’m pretty sure that was what people were saying. Good Luck! </p>
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